MANDATORY ORGANICS RECYCLING IN CALIFORNIA

In October 2014 Governor Brown signed Assembly Bill 1826 (AB 1826) requiring businesses to recycle their organic waste on and after April 1, 2016, depending on the amount of waste they generate per week. This law also requires that on and after January 1, 2016, local jurisdictions across the state implement an organic waste recycling program to divert organic waste generated by businesses, including multifamily residential dwellings that consist of five or more. Organic waste means food waste, green waste, landscape and pruning waste, nonhazardous wood waste, and food-soiled paper waste that is mixed in with food waste. This law phases in the mandatory recycling of commercial organics over time as in the following timeline:

January 1, 2016: All California Cities shall have an organic waste recycling program in place and each shall conduct outreach and education to inform businesses how to comply with AB 1826 as well as monitoring to identify those not recycling

Fall 2020: After the 2019 annual reports are submitted on August 1, 2020, CalRecycle shall conduct its formal review of all cities and determine if they are in compliance.

Summer/Fall 2021: If CalRecycle determines the statewide disposal of organic waste in 2020 has not been reduced by 50 percent of the disposal during 2014, the organic recycling requirements on businesses will expand to cover businesses that generate 2 cubic yards or more of commercial solid waste per week. Additionally, certain exemptions may no longer be available if this target is not met.

The chart on the right illustrates that more than 40% of all materials disposed in California are potentially compostable and require organics waste recycling programs. California businesses are required to implement these programs to cut the total organics disposed of without recycling by 50%​

THE RISKS OF NON-COMPLIANCEIt is highly possible that California businesses, especially those generating large amounts of organic material or operate multiple stores statewide, may be fined. Fining California businesses for non-compliance is not new for the State of California as shown in the following cases for other recyclable materials such as electronic waste: